by RAJAN HULE
Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil women hold portraits of missing relatives during a protest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka PHOTO/Eranga Jayawardena/AP/The Guardian
Revisiting Tamil self determination — Part III:
Communalism has wreaked havoc in Lanka. It is embedded in our prejudices and our backwardness. The Sri Lankan political establishment’s complicity in violence against a minority is a scandal that would impede us for years to come, particularly in view of the lack of will to do away with impunity and hold the armed forces to account. Equally culpable are the Tamil leaders who have inflamed passions where a little sympathy and restraint could have cooled them and hindered communalism putting down institutional roots.
The passage of the Donoughmore Bill, which abolished communal representation in December 1929, was received calmly by the Tamils. At the Legislature no Tamil opposed the abolition. With communal representation having been the norm for nearly a century under British colonial rule, gradual change might have beenmore prudent than to move fast and precipitate conflict. Nevertheless, Sir Waitialingam Duraisamy’s response in the Legislative Council sums up the attitude of the Tamils:
“Well, although the idea of communal representation originated in the mind of the Government and was nurtured by the Government inspite of representations from the people of the island, this time the Government spokesmen, the Special Commissioners have dealt the death blow to the idea of communal representation. The one who created it has destroyed it, and you will have noticed that immediately after the publication of the report, how calmly and quietly the people of the island accepted it and no protest was raised by the Tamil community.”(Communalism or Nationalism – CorN)
‘Poisonous Vapours of Communalism’
For a time it looked as if things would settle down. As explained earlier, with the onset ofby-elections resulting from the 1931 boycott in the North, fear of Sinhalese domination and restoration of communal representation became heated issues. In February 1934, K. Balasingam, earlier of the Legislative Council, wrote in his letter to the Tamils of Jaffna, “The attempt on the part of some Tamils to form a minority alliance can only have the effect of welding together the divided sections of the Sinhalese and of inducing them to form a racial bloc.” Balasingam added, “repercussions are felt in Balangoda where old time vandalism and present day hostility to the ‘Demilos’, become election cries. The election cries are quoted as further proof of Sinhalese desire to dominate”.
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